Time To Seperate The Men!

Pablo is just 10wks old and this week he's been starting to do the deed with a couple of his chosen females(sisters) he's beginning to molt out into his adult feathers, he's slowly getting his green head, he's blowing his brown feathers and getting that mallard gray chest, he now has his drake voice completely, so what do I do and how can I do it with going to Vegas?? Peking, he's 2wks younger then Pablo, he has the "lost his voice" sound right now but I'm sure he will get that adult drake voice in a couple weeks and start the deed to. Can I keep the brothers together or at least the whole group until I return from Vegas. We don't leave until end of January and back 1st weekend of February, by then they will be 12-14/15wks old. Oreo their momma started laying these guys when she was 20-22wks old approximately. Can I put dad with the 2 boys and mom with her daughters safely for a week?? My mom and my sister are suppose to care for my ducks/rabbits while I'm gone and I'm afraid if anyone starts laying especially with Ming-Ming in the cage with her my family members won't pull the eggs and then I will have eggs to candle when I get home. Here is Pablo who is beginning to do the actual deed/act.

I guess a little bit of both, and the fact that I can't put the babies who will be 12-15wks old outside in this cold yet here in Michigan. I've been getting momma and dad aquented with the babies so I can put all of them together come spring, and well I was thinking of putting the entire family together, but I don't want fighting nor the dad going after his daughters, he already tried the deed with one of them and I don't want anyone to get hurt while I'm gone or even here, they lay nicely together in the house on a blanket I put on the floor, it's in the confined cage during the time I'm gone either in the basement or in our garage. I have a total of 3 males, 8 females. 1 male adult(dad) and 2 adolescents(males), and 1 adult female(mom) and 7 female adolescents. I'm already beginning to somewhat see what adolescent males have picked their females for their mates. These 11 ducks that I have will be for egg laying, I can't have any more ducklings until we live somewhere else that I can provide more of a swimming area for them other then a kiddie pool, and I need to know how to make a little pond to fit 11 yet filter out all the crap. I know the 9 babies aren't egg baring age yet, but within the next 8wks they will be, and momma duck is laying again after a week of having a break from laying previously. So while I'm gone it's more about not wanting the females to be mated to death especially by their dad if I put him in there as well while I'm gone since the male(s) are beginning to do the deed, maybe they watched and learned from their parents while they were in the basement next to them a couple weeks ago! I'm just more or less also trying to make it easy on my family when they come up to care for the ducks/rabbits. I hear it enough already from my family of how much work my animals must be. It may not be for them, but it is for me, and as long as I can make it easier on them, maybe they will make it easier on me by not lecturing me. Which either way when I return they will. They've already made a comment that maybe my ducklings are the reason my kids are sick so much this season. WTH!! I keep my house cleaned, maybe not Marth Stuart clean and tidy, but I keep my house clean. I have all these animals but I smell my moms 1 cat then I do my 11 ducks in the basement with my 11 rabbits there as well as my 3 cats.(It's not as bad as it may sound. LOL!

Quote:Well tell your family that your kids are probably sick for the same reason that the hospitals are so full they cant even fit all the patients in them. Bronchitis is rampant this winter all of my house was stricken with it as well as several other people we know. As for your duckie doos I would say, put some sort of seperation between the adults and the teenagers. Just while you are gone. Do you have any pictures of your set up or your ducks? Maybe I could help you figure out something there.

I wouldn't worry about fertility at this point, if that's what concerns you. They're unlikely to be fertile even if they're mating that young, and even if they are, they're unlikely to start sitting on them and even if they do, you can deal with it when you get back.

However, I would not put the adults together with the young'uns until you get back.

For now, leave it like it is. They already have an established pecking order, and males who are raised together usually get along fine until they're older anyway--even then they can get along fine.

I also wouldn't worry about inbreeding, if that's worrying you (not sure it is, but it sounds like it might be from your post). Ducks can inbreed for several generations before there start to be problems.

They also start mating behaviors long before they actually start mating.

I think you have very little to worry about if you leave your set-up alone and just leave your family written instructions on how to care for them.

And don't worry about the lecturing. Let it slide. You could be absolutely perfect (except that no one is) but people who are looking for something to criticize would find something to criticize. You're doing the best you can and making intelligent decisions for yourself and your family. It doesn't matter what "they" think, whoever "they" are. It's your life and your family.

And that's stupid about the illness, by the way. Study after study shows that children who grow up in a household with animals or on a farm have healthier immune systems. Just make sure they're washing their hands between handling the birds and eating--if you're doing that (and I'll bet you are), then there's almost zero danger that the ducks are making them sick. It's just one of those years (trust me, my family was sick from before Thanksgiving until a little less than a week ago--and we do not have any more ducks than we ever had).

Well, they have been introduced to each other, they've been out on our deck with one another, and currently they are in our kitchen together in a pen with a blanket on the floor, I do this to break the monotney of the basement for the ducklings and to be around humans to get socialized and get vit. D from our slider window when it's to cold for them to go out. There was chasing and nipping with the adult drake and adult female but they've settled down. My goal is to have them all together in one pen while I'm gone, but with the teen drakes getting it on with the teen girls, and the adult drake wanting to do the deed with the teen girls, I'm worried about injury. This is all new to me, I hatched these ducklings end of October and wish I could put them outside, but mom and dad haven't even been outside completely full time, i've brought them inside at night or even during the day when temps are so painfully cold, even my adult drake starts limping because it's so cold, he even had an icsicle(sp) stuck to his toe, poor guy. But this is my set up in my basement for my ducklings & my bunnies I have when they aren't having run time in the house. Basically my basement is my animal room! LOL!!
But the ducklings set up in on the left side of the basement as you look at the picture obviously. Excuse the mess, I'm moving things around to get things situated for when my family comes to take care of the zoo. Which I'm thankful, yet extremely hesitant having them come up, but I have no one else!

Here are the ducklings up in the kitchen having social hour with mom and dad with them, everyone is getting along just fine now. I have yet to have them sleep in the same pen at night though.

you could try letting them sleep together when you can observe their behavior but I should say probably keeping them in the basement like you have them should be FINE while you are gone. Then when you get back worry about socializing them with mommy and daddy.

They've been doing pretty good up until now! Adult drake is chasing the teens around freaking them out, so I think it's time to give them a break and seperate. Thank you so much everyone, I'm just a worry wart about this trip and my zoo being well taken care of because my family hardly comes up to visit us in general as it is and they only live 20min away!! So it worries me about truly how often will they actually come up to check on their food/water and if they will truly know what to do even with written directions, or if one should get sick, then the grapevine comments. Yeah I know, I shouldn't let what others think of me bother me, but they do. I take pride in my house and my animals, sure it can get messy, but it looks at least lived in by a very happy family both human and animal. I'm just not one to live in a immaculate house, some days my own children are messier and more work then all the animals put together. I will be making a seperate pen for mom and dad and leave babies as is.

Hope it all works out for you, and you can go and have fun, I never go anywhere because I have noone that I can trust or who even would take care of my zoo. Forgot to say those kids sure have grown and they are cute...